Extra-Western Modernisms Take Center Stage at 2024 Venice Biennale

The 2024 Venice Biennale, curated by Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa, features a historical nucleus of abstract painting that highlights extra-Western modernisms. The exhibition challenges Eurocentric narratives by presenting geometric abstraction from artists across the Global South, including Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Key figures include Oswald de Andrade, whose Anthropophagic Manifesto advocated cultural cannibalism as a form of resistance; Aimé Césaire and Léopold Senghor, founders of the Négritude movement; and Frantz Fanon, author of 'The Wretched of the Earth.' The show includes works by Mohammad Ehsaei (Iran), Saliba Douaihy (Lebanon), Carmen Herrera (Cuba/US), Anwar Jalal Shemza (Pakistan/UK), Esther Mahlangu (South Africa), and the Casablanca School artists Mohammed Chebaa, Mohamed Hamidi, Mohammed Kacimi, and Mohamed Melehi. These artists adapted European modernist forms to express local identities, often incorporating calligraphic or wave motifs. The Biennale's historical section presents a postcolonial art history that re-evaluates modernism through diverse cultural and social experiences, moving beyond linear European narratives.